Tales of an Extreme Onion Hater!: To Be (Before) 35 Part 1

Two years ago, I celebrated my 33^rdbirthday in La Union. Last year, a month after my 34^th, I left for Cebu to swim with the whale sharks. This year, a month before my 35^th birthday, I decided to go to the very picturesque Caramoan, Camarines Sur.

It was my first time to go to Caramoan but it wasn’t the first time that I’ve been to Naga. A few years back, I was part of a media junket that covered an event at CWC and a few media people, my friend Rafa, and I stayed there for a few days. We really didn’t able to go out from CWC and explore Naga because it wasn’t part of our itinerary but it was still okay since I had a relaxing stay at the compound. So that’s the short intro of my first brush of Naga. Ever since I started doing this idea of going away for my birthday, I’ve always anticipated my next destination. I’m not sure where or from whom I’ve heard it, but somebody said that Caramoan is really a beautiful place to go to and that I would really love it since I loved my trip in Coron. I know nothing about Caramoan except that the show Survivor shot an entire season there, so I made my research and upon seeing the gorgeous islands, clear, blue water, I was sold. Five months ago, my friend Peggy booked us a flight to Naga, and between those five months, a lot has happened: I almost had a nervous breakdown, I left my job, I had misunderstandings and eventually made up with a few close friends, and eventually found a new job. Five months just breezed by and little did I know, I was already at the NAIA Terminal 3 waiting for my flight, which was to no surprise delayed.

Hello!

Bought a new mobile phone, which is a Samsung Galaxy K Zoom. I used my phone's awesome camera for all photos here in this post (except for the underwater videos and stills which I took using my iTouch 5).

The mandatory inside the plane selfie

The mandatory clouds and skies photo while inside the plane

About a month back while booking my accommodation, I spoke to Jean Sancho from West PeninsulaVillas (whom I just found out was one of the owners of the resort) and he advised me that since our flight was going to arrive in Naga after lunch, we had to spend a night in the city since the last ferry out from Sabang port to Guijalo port was around noon. No problem since I was really keen on going around Naga and just, I don’t know, eat. In Naga, I stayed at Nagaland Hotel, which was situated right smack at the town proper, in front of a mall, and beside a Bigg’s Diner. Bigg’s Diner is a staple in Naga, it’s like their Jollibee or Starbucks, it’s everywhere there. I love the 60s retro interior of Bigg’s, it’s so unique to me.

Touchdown! Naga citeeehh! Not obvious but I was really hungry here in this photo.

When in Naga, eat at Bigg's Dinner!

I ordered the chicken and BBQ combo. ANG SARAP! Yun lang hehe.

Tourist doing touristy stuff. Peechur peechur sa plaza.

Peechur peechur ng simbahan

Share a Coke with mare, sis, and friend.

Outside the hotel, there was a salon and since my bangs needed a trim, I went in and had one. So this is the before...

And after. Gah! For P50, I can see now!

The cute cafe at The Nagaland Hotel.

Relax relax before dinner

So I asked friends from social media where I should eat dinner in Naga, I got a few suggestions but I decided to go to Bob Marlin, as suggested by my pseudo tito, Razorback guitarist Tirso Ripoll. Amused by the play on the restaurant’s name, of course it wasn’t a huge surprise to me when I got to the restaurant and saw a bunch of Bob Marley paraphernalia. The thing that surprised me though was when I asked the waiter if their specialty has anything to do with Marlin, he said that no and that their specialty is Crispy Pata…. Mmmmkay, sorry naman at ang assuming ko hehe.

The frozen margarita that's almost alcohol free. No wonder it was so cheap.

I did not order the Crispy Pata because I wasn't feeling suicidal that night so I ordered Laing instead. It was good, it wasn't spicy which I really liked.

I woke up early to head on to the van terminal going to Sabang port to take the baruto (that’s ferry in Ilonggo) going to Caramoan. The drive from Naga City to Sabang port is two hours, and the baruto ride is about an hour and 45 minutes to two hours depending on how rough the waves are.

On the road to Sabang port. Good morning, Naga.

Barutos all lined up

Love my Team Manila Tabing Ilog tee which I made into a macho sando.

Such an ingenious contraption that one is. It's a raft where a couple of men would push to the ferry to transport the passengers. It's like a man-made escalator.

Thankfully enough the waves were pretty calm and it wasn’t raining so yey!!! But sitting on a van and in a ferry for hours did quite a number on my ass so imagine how happy I was when we finally arrived at the Guijalo port. But here’s what I didn’t know, which stressed me out a bit when we got to the port, I saw a number of little bangkas, the kind where you only use an oar and not a motor, approaching our ferry. The entire time I was thinking “WTF is this?! How would I be able to get in that bangka with me and my luggage and we won’t tip over?!” But if there’s a will, there’s a way, and let’s just say that no luggage or human accidentally got wet during the ferry to port transfer, watch the video for proof hehe.

Ganun pala kasi yun, we arrived at the Guijalo port while it was low tide so our ferry won’t be able to push its way to the dock since it will get stuck, so, it can only stop at a certain point because it still needs to leave to be used to transport the passengers going to Sabang. So my adventure started pretty early because of that situation but it was all good. I immediately saw our tour guide Kuya Ruel and we hopped right inside the van to go to West Peninsula Villas, which was just about 10 minutes away. West Peninsula Villas is known for housing the Survivor Caramoan challengers and crew when they did the show. You would see paraphernalia from the show displayed at their information area.

This was my home for 3 days

The room which has either a queen sized bed or two single beds. It has cable ready TV, aircon and fan,

and hot water for shower.

The pool

The dinning hall

My villa

Hi!

The place was really nice. My room was clean, cold, and comfortable. The staff of the resort were very accommodating, they were never rude, and never was I given any attitude even though I requested that my corned beef shouldn't have onions. When lunch was served, I was surprised by how plenty it was, it was probably good for four people. There were three different viands, and a mountain of rice. During my entire stay at the resort, it was always like that, except for breakfast which you'll have a selection of all the silogs that they can offer. So as early as lunch was served, I knew that what I'll be paying for my stay at West Peninsula Villas was going to be worth it.

Bagay ba?

Uhhmm...how would I be able to finish this? This was lunch.

We were picked up by Kuya Ruel and our driver Kuya Darius about 30 minutes after lunch to start our first day of island hopping. First stop was Lahos Island, which was one of the islands used to accommodate some of the Survivor Caramoan challengers. It’s a small island compared to the next island that we went to which was called Matukad, which was the other island used in the Survivor franchise.

Day 1 of island hopping in Caramoan

Angry clouds but it never rained

Land ahoy! First stop, Lahos Island

Super clear water

Lahos Island

Matukad Island

Kuya Ruel said that beyond those rocks, there's a lagoon. We didn't attempt to climb the rocks because they were too steep and I didn't want to risk getting injured.

Matukad Island's sand is probably the finest sand that I've ever seen and felt in my life. It's like powdered milk. It's like polvoron. It's so fine that you can actually rub it on your skin and it won't hurt.

After spending about 20 minutes swimming in Matukad, we then went to an area where we can snorkel near Kagbalinad Island. The water was so clear and cool. There were a lot of small fish, no huge ones like in Coron, but I still had fun chasing them.